Hybrid Spyder AWD 2-Dr Coupe V8 man trans

2014 porsche 918 Reviews and News

The Porsche 918 Spyder is fast. Really, really fast. Few will ever get to experience the surely gut-wrenching sensation of 887 hp and 944 lb-ft of torque at over 213 mph, but a first-person video of Porsche factory racing driver Patrick Long taking a hot lap around Texas's Circuit of the Americas might be the next-best thing.

The Porsche 918 Spyder is one of the most exciting and impressive supercars to come around in a long time. This week on Ignition, host Carlos Lago takes this 887-hp hypercar on the track in Spain to see what its advanced hybrid drivetrain and complex electronics can do.

It was doomsday weather in Stuttgart. The temperature gauge read minus two degrees Celsius (28 degrees Fahrenheit) as the swollen skies emitted a mix of rain, sleet, and snow. Could it be that the whole adventure was in jeopardy? The day before, Frank Walliser, the Porsche 918 Spyder's high-strung project leader, had called an emergency meeting. There was no way that this triple-hearted roadster could be unleashed in such adverse conditions on uncompromising, low-profile summer tires. Officially, Porsche does not yet offer winter rubber for the 918. Unofficially, however, a friend of a friend of Walliser's who works in the prototype shop produced a set of black wheels shod with brand-new Pirelli Sottozero winter tires. That promptly led to another minor complication, namely the need to find space for four wheels with summer tires, not to mention the noncollapsible, four-foot-long torque wrench required to mount them.

We arrived at el circuito Ricardo Tormo on the western outskirts of Valencia in time for a quick trackside lunch. Were we ready to put this Porsche to the real test? Sort of, except that the guy in the leading 918 kept pulling away while messieurs Kacher and Ruger were still debating brake points, turn-in points, and gearchange points. Sadly, all it takes to put your driving skills into perspective is one fast lap with Walter Rohrl, who ran the entire track in D and still got to the finish line light years before the distant number two. Lesser mortals clearly need more time to practice, and eventually we did learn to late-apex most corners, to step on the gas early, to anticipate the dialogue between rear-wheel-drive dominance and front-wheel-drive support, to brake

Just in case the 2015 Porsche 918 Spider’s record-breaking Nürburgring lap time of 6 minutes and 57 seconds wasn’t quick enough, Porsche R&D chief Wolfgang Hatz just admitted to even greater potential from the plug-in hybrid supercar, according to a report from our colleagues at Motor Trend.